Down With Disease > Low Rider > Down With Disease - Phish
11.23.97 - Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Winston-Salem NC

With the rumors flying about Phish announcing more tour dates tomorrow, I thought I would highlight a Phish show this week for “Being There”.

Can you ever get enough of Fall ‘97? I sure can’t. After two legendary nights at Hampton (the best Phish Hampton shows in my humble opinion), Sparkz and I traveled southbound to Winston-Salem, North Carolina to close out our three day pre-Thanksgiving Phish weekend. We met fellow Butter Room resident, Curry, and several other college friends who made the short drive from Virginia Tech that day.

The 11/23/97 show definitely gets overshadowed by the Hampton shows the nights before, but it contained some serious tasty treats. Before I get to the music, I’ll share some of my hazy memories of the scene. Lot scene - don’t really remember one at all. I think everyone was arriving late from Hampton, and for good reason. I do recall trying to score tickets to see moe. play an “after show” at Ziggy’s, which is a well-known venue in the South that is within walking distance of the coliseum. Unfortunately, it was sold out. That would have been quite a double bill of music. Inside the venue - Very casual, which Daddy liked. GA seating and get this, the venue had a Gumbo vendor. Of course on any other night, I wouldn’t dare spend cash on Gumbo in a basketball arena in the middle of North Carolina, but 11/23/97 was not any other night. That Gumbo was a delicious pre-game appetizer. We settled in to our seats directly across the stage in the lower level. Perfect location.

In addition to the gumbo, LJWM Coliseum served up a fantastic night of music. The first set was highlighted by Black-Eyed Katy, which was also played at Hampton. Black-Eyed Katy was brand spankin’ new in the Fall of 1997, but I was lucky enough to get it at both Hampton and Winston-Salem. I don’t know if hearing it once before had anything to do with it, but I felt this one was jammed out a bit more than at Hampton. The second set was the heat. A 31 minute Bathtub Gin kicked off the second set. It was tough not to post that as the mp3 from this show, but I promise to post it on Phish Friday. I decided to post the DWD > Low Rider > DWD. I’m a sucker for rarities and the Low Rider came out of nowhere. It was not the musical highlight of the night nor well-rehearsed, but it was a lot of fun and topped off with the end of DWD that was shred to pieces.

In my search of the internets for more 11/23/97 content, I found some old reviews of 11/23/97 on phish.net. Enjoy.

Setlist:
Phish, Sunday 11/23/97 - Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Winston-Salem NC

Set One
My Soul, Theme from the Bottom, Black-Eyed Katy, Sparkle, Twist, Stash> NICU, Fluffhead, Character Zero

Set Two:
Bathtub Gin, Down With Disease> Low Rider> Down With Disease, Bold as Love

Encore:
Julius